UK PRIME MINISTER PROMOTES INDIANORIGIN MINISTER SHAILESH VARA

LONDON : Shailesh Vara, who held the junior ministerial post of parliamentary undersecretary of state in the Northern Ireland Office, has been promoted by Prime Minister Theresa May to the rank of a minister of state in the same department. Vara said: “I am of course very pleased with the promotion. The work in Northern Ireland is hugely important, especially as we leave the European Union, ensuring that there is no hard border with Ireland.” The promotion of Vara, a Conservative MP from North-west Cambridgeshire, means there are now two ministers of state in the May government of Indian origin. Alok Sharma is minister of state for employment in the department of work and pensions.

Egypt: 75 people sentenced to death for 2013 protests

CAIRO: A court has sentenced 75 people to death, including top figures of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, for their involvement in a 2013 sit-in, Egypt’s state-run media said. Saturday’s decision in the Cairo criminal court will now be referred to the Grand Mufti—the country’s top theological authority—for his non-binding opinion on the sentences. He usually approves the court’s decision. Sentencing for more than 660 others was set for September 8, according to state-run Al-ahram news website. AP

Landslides in Thailand kill 7 people, damage houses

BANGKOK: Landslides in northern Thailand, triggered by days of heavy downpours, killed seven people on Saturday and left one missing, an official said. All of the victims lived in the mountainous district of Bo Kluea in Nan province, where the landslides have also caused damage to houses and roads, a district security official said. “We’ve warned people of such landslides but did not expect they would be this big,” he said. Landslides and flooding in Thailand usually occur during the May-november rainy season. REUTERS

Extraordinary drug dog worries Colombian cartel

BOGOTA : This is the story of a drug dog with a bounty on its head. Sombra, a six-year-old German shepherd, has helped Colombia’s police detect more than 2,000 kg of cocaine hidden in suitcases, boats and large shipments of fruit. But as the dog sniffs her way toward record cocaine interdictions, she has also become the latest target of Colombia’s most powerful drug gang. Colombian police recently revealed that the Gulf Clan, a cartel that boasts its own guerrilla army, has offered a reward of $7,000 to whoever kills or captures the savvy hound. The threat prompted officials to relocate Sombra — whose name in

Spanish means Shadow.

AP

US: Five dead in separate shooting incidents in Texas

CORPUS CHRISTI: Texas authorities said five people have been killed following separate shootings that included a nursing home in a Corpus Christi suburb. Robstown City Secretary Herman Rodriguez says via Twitter that three people were killed on Friday following a shooting at the Retama Manor nursing home.

Two additional men were found dead in a home linked to that shooting.

AP